PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sampathirao, Nikita
AU  - Basu, Sandip
TI  - Rare Occurrence of Hypergastrinemia Due to Thoracic Neuroendocrine Tumor: Detection and Characterization by <sup>68</sup>Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT
AID  - 10.2967/jnmt.115.171603
DP  - 2016 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
PG  - 203--204
VI  - 44
IP  - 3
4099  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/44/3/203.short
4100  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/44/3/203.full
SO  - J. Nucl. Med. Technol.2016 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Hypergastrinemia is a prominent feature of a segment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, the gastrinomas, occurring mostly in the gastrinoma triangle. Hypergastrinemia due to a thoracic neuroendocrine tumor is a very rare occurrence, with a paucity of literature elucidating the same. We report a case of thoracic neuroendocrine tumor in a patient who had initially presented with symptoms of peptic ulcer disease of 3-y duration. On evaluation, the patient’s fasting serum gastrin levels were found to be raised. Conventional imaging modalities and endoscopic evaluation did not identify the location of a possible gastrinoma or any other mass in the abdomen. In view of the hypergastrinemia, somatostatin receptor–targeted imaging with 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT was undertaken and showed a somatostatin receptor–expressing paravertebral mass next to the thoracic aorta in the left lung. The mass was excised and was histopathologically suggestive of metastatic neuroendocrine tumor (MIB-1 labeling index, 2%). The present case underscores the importance of 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT in both detecting and characterizing a causative lesion missed on contrast-enhanced CT, especially when the lesion is not easily amenable to biopsy.